The year is 2010 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Felix, a 20-year-old undergrad, has lost interest in his major Industrial Economics and Technology Management. He would later start drifting away from his academics and towards his passion — Photoshop and video games. Then he shares the latter with the internet on this new site called YouTube. Today, Forbes named Felix Kjellberg the highest-earning Youtuber. He makes up to $15 million per year. The name of his channel is PewDiePie.
Going into stories of people or brands who jumped on the right trend at just the right time will have you gasping for air. GoPro, another example, jumped on the picture and video sharing culture of the 2000s. As of 2017, they were worth over a billion dollars. In 2020, you have the power to use the right trend to trigger an explosive growth for your brand. But what are those trends? We’ll show you. Watch out, some older trends (like Voice search from 2019) are waxing stronger this year.
9 Trends in Digital Marketing for Rapid Brand Growth in 2020
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” - Alan Kay
If you want to get the best results out of your digital marketing efforts this year, despite all the apocalyptic drama surrounding it, ride the right waves. The right waves could be social media, new tech, or a new (sometimes resurfaced) way of doing business. You don’t have to dig deep to find out what’s trending in the digital marketing sphere this year. Because we’ve got that done for you.
1. Tik Tok
Tik Tok grew massively in a few short years, overtaking a lot of apps to record 800 million active users. It’s no wonder savvy marketers are turning their attention to the short video sharing app adored by the Gen Z. Videos on Tik Tok are doing very well, with millions of views on several videos. If you’ve been watching, many of the memes in 2020 started on this social media app. MAC cosmetics who recognize this teamed up with some Tik Tok influencers to start a hashtag challenge #YouOwnIt. This was in September 2019. It took only 6 days to hit 635,000 videos created and over 1.6 billion views.
Photo by Kon Karampelas on Unsplash
2. Chatbots
Those little bubbles at the bottom of many web pages these days that say, “Hi there! How can I help you today?” are prime examples of chatbots. Here, these bots help you navigate the website in a chat interface. They help website owners deliver the best experience to their visitors. They help answer simple questions, provide 24-hour help, and give instant responses each time. Research shows that Chatbots will own 85% of customer service in 2020. Many brands like Lyft, Pizza Hut, and Whole Foods Market use Chatbots.
3. Voice Search
According to Gartner's - a leading global research firm :
● Half of all searches will be done by voice in 2020
● Voice shopping will grow by $2 billion and hit $40 billion in 2022
● 72% of owners of voice-activated speakers say it’s a part of their daily lives
It’s becoming more and more important to optimize your web content for voice search. You can do this by focusing on getting on Google’s featured snippets and writing with words people speak with rather than write.
4. SEO A/B Testing
Marketers would usually create a piece of copy, content, ad, etc., publish it, and cross their fingers hoping for it to work. But that’s no longer the case with A/B testing. SEO A/B testing involves creating two versions of the same content and analyzing results to see which performs better in real life. Tools like ClickFlow will help you maximize the SEO potential of your website with smart optimization suggestions.
5. Artificial Intelligence
It was in 2019 that Harvard Business Review predicted that there will be more AI
components in new software products. Gartner seconded this in 2020. AI isn’t just a thing of 2020, it has been around for decades. But this year, businesses are using it more than ever to:
● Chat with customers like a real person using natural language processing (remember chatbots from number 2?)
● Customize user experience from a pool of data drawn from social media posts and blog posts
● Personalize emails, etc. AI drives higher efficiency at costs lower than using regular labor.
6. Instagram
Instagram is a video and picture sharing app that Facebook acquired for a billion dollars, which we believe is because Mark Zuckerberg saw it for the goldmine it is. Instagram doesn’t just serve ads as part of its eCommerce service delivery package, there’s also the shoppable post. They unveiled this in 2019. Out of their 1 billion users, Instagram says 90% of them are already following shopping brands. Which leads to the question: If you are not selling on Instagram already, what are you doing?
7. Video Marketing
For many people, this would be their first encounter with the term "video marketing." Video marketing involves your digital marketing effort that uses videos — think YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook videos. And in the last couple of years, internet live streaming too. Most aspects of video marketing are measuring growths, and they haven’t slowed down in 2020. More people are relating better with brands that use videos, leading to higher click-through rates and conversions. You can start. It’s as simple as a webinar, a video slideshow of your blog post, a Q/A session about your products/services, or a live demo.
8. Content Marketing
Permit us to use that cliche here: Content is king.
And it's still on the throne. The most successful brands in the world don't let up on content. What is content? Content is everything on the internet — videos, text, images, audio, flash, etc. They’re the silk of the world wide web. In fact, the fastest way to seal the top position on Google is providing rich user-friendly content. 88% of B2B content marketers agree that creating content makes their audience see them as trustworthy.
9. Influencer Marketing
In number 1 about Tik Tok, we told a story of MAC cosmetics and how they teamed up with influencers of Tik Tok to start a hashtag challenge. Influencer marketing is common these days, and this year it's growing even faster. Social media influencers already have the fans, the following, and the admiration of thousands, even millions of people who listen to them. Recognize this and affiliate your brand with one in your niche to record massive success in your marketing efforts.
In Summary...
The digital marketer sphere of 2020 is still vibrant with old trends and new ones. It’s never too late to grab onto one or two and ride the wave upwards to greater brand growth.
Choose from these 9 digital marketing trends in 2020 for rapid brand growth:
1. Tik Tok
2. Chatbots
3. Voice search
4. SEO A/B testing
5. AI
6. Instagram
7. Video marketing
8. Content marketing
9. Influencer marketing
Align it with your brand and what your audience appreciates. Soon you’ll have a success story to tell.
Looking to see results? Contact info@brandandbranders.com